Even the fourth-quarter 30-foot three-pointer with 2:12 left in the game that found the bottom of the net felt like it was going in as it left his hands.

"I just thought I had to get in my sweet spot and I felt comfortable in that range," I thought it was going in, honestly."

It was that kind of night.

Not to be overlooked

The shooting star of the night was no question, but there was another guy who had a pretty solid night scoring the ball other than Crawford.

Leandro Barbosa finished the night with 26 points in what was his best game of the season.

Barbosa is a guy the Raptors rally around. He has played hurt from the very first game of the season and has played through the pain.

His daily game day routine is a 4:30 p.m. arrival for a 7 p.m start. He spends almost the entire 21/2 hours on one of three training tables in the Raptors locker room having his various hurts and aches attended to. Then he goes out and plays only to do it all over again the next game.

There were points last night where he simply took the game over, fearlessly going to the basket and consistently beating one and often times two defenders off the dribble.

"He was a problem tonight and we didn't have an answer for him," Crawford admitted. "He got where he wanted. He's just so quick."

Bibby in training

Jeff Teague doesn't get a lot of playing time backing up Mike Bibby. Teague, in just his second year out of Wake Forest, though is in a perfect situation if you ask Raptors former point guard, now assistant coach Alvin Williams.

Williams likes what he has seen of Teague to this point and feels he's in the best position possible learning the league from one of the wise old vets in Bibby.

Williams was asked who he considers the next great point guard in the making. Again not surprisingly, Williams went back to his hometown of Philadelphia where Jrue Holiday has caught Williams eye.

He liked a lot of what he saw from Teague in Vegas during summer league, but in Holiday he sees the making of a true all-round point guard. Teague and Holiday can both score, but Williams like's what he sees from Holiday on the defensive end.

Bibby for the win

Those watching may have wondered why the Hawks went with Bibby for what turned out to be the game-winning three-pointer when Crawford was holding the hot hand most of the night.

Most, but not too many inside the Atlanta room.

Bibby had only scored eight points, but with the game on the line, the Hawks invariably found a way to get their veteran point guard the ball.

"That was the play," Crawford said. "We did it against the Clippers and Mike has hit so many big shots in his career we feel comfortable putting him in that position. He's very comfortable in that position too."

Had to say something

It's not often DeMar DeRozan gets demonstrative with a referee following a non-call, but when he hit the deck on a drive right in front of Bill Spooner and didn't get a call in the third quarter, DeRozan appeared to be looking for an explanation.

Had this been the pre-season when a shoulder shrug got a player tee'd up, DeRozan would have undoubtedly received a tech.